The Opera House The Opera Populair
by Scarlett Michealson
Summary: It's been years since the Opera Populair was actually used. A new opera house has been built in Paris, the old one has been long since forgotten, until Felicity, a ballet teacher buys it, and with her husband, restores it. As they fix it, things start to happen, making them curious and forcing them to dig deep into their pasts and to remember who really owns the Opera Populair...


The Opera House

By Scarlett Michealson

1950

I stared up at the foreboding building. It was built of stone, with gargoyles all along its border. The doors were boarded up, and the stone columns were chipped and dirty. The once-white beauty, now stood a white elephant among the massive homes around.

"So what was this place again?" I asked, staring up at the gargoyles who didn't look very friendly. In the distance I could hear thunder rumbling. Richard chuckled.

"It was an Opera house. It's the old one. It was known as the Opera Populair. They stopped using it, because it was too small, and they had too many mishaps with it. That's why they built that new one, right along the Champs-Elysees." He told me. I nodded. This did not look like a good dance school to me. I sighed.

"Don't you have any others, on that clip board of yours?" I asked. He chuckled.

"Well, before we look further, why don't you go inside, and take a look, it might be better than you think." He said. I shook my head. This realtor was going to be the death of me, I swore.

"Richard, I couldn't even afford to fix these columns, if I wanted too." I said, pointing at the crumbling towers, around us. He shook his head.

"Trust me on this one, Felicity." He said. I sighed.

"Fine, but I'm not promising anything." I grumbled, opening the door with the key he handed me. As I pushed the-more-than-two-hundred-year-old-door open it creaked eerily on its hinges, but it did still open. Walking in, I had to find the light switch, but when I did and I flicked it on, the lights made a sound like a car starting, and they grumbled to life. I blinked, and looked around.

"Wow..." I gasped, staring up at the chandelier that hung down, above the seats. The auditorium was massive. I walked forward, going into the middle isle in front of me, and I turned around, and looked up at all the balconies above us.

"Richard. This place is so above my price limit it's not even funny. I mean, look at it, they don't even build balconies anymore!" I cried. I continued down the aisle, until I noticed the incredibly, massive, organ above the doorway. I stopped.

"Do you have any idea how much it would cost just to have that thing removed?!" I said, pointing at it. He laughed.

"Mrs. Phantom, there's a catch to this place." He said, starting down the aisle. I laughed.

"I really don't care, because I'm not buying it. It's not even close to my league." I said. He stopped in front of me.

"Mrs. Phantom. Everything you see, everything you've pointed out that needs fixing or removing, it has already been paid for." He said. I stopped, and looked back at him.

"What do you mean, it's already been paid for?" I asked. He smiled.

"Well, I'm not really supposed to tell anyone, in case they just want the money, but I know you don't. The previous owners of the Opera House left behind a really massive trust fund. It was specifically for fixing up the opera house and keeping it in good shape. Nothing else." He told me. I blinked.

"How massive are we talking?" I asked. He shook his head back and forth debating whether to tell me or not.

"It's several hundred million." He whispered. My eyes lit up. Someone really loved this place to leave so much behind to take care of it.

"Well, then, I mean..." I started, looking around at it.

"I guess I could take it. But, is there more? Or is this it?" I asked. He laughed.

"Follow me." He said. He lead me up onto the stage, and through a side door into a hallway. Down the hall was a cafeteria, and a staircase.

"Where does that go?" I asked, pointing at the stairs. He smiled.

"Those are the living quarters for the performers." He responded. I sighed. I couldn't believe that people actually lived here once upon a time.

"So, what do you think?" He asked. I smiled, looking around.

"I think we should go back to that office of yours and start the paper work. I'm sold." I smiled at him. He laughed.

"Thought you'd say that." He chuckled, and we left. I turned out the lights just before I closed the door, thinking the next time I opened them, I would own them.

"So, how'd it go today?" He asked, as I put my things down. I was already beaming in the car.

"Extremely well! Guess what?!" I called, walking into the kitchen of our apartment. He gave me a funny look.

"What did you do?" He asked. I laughed.

"Oh, I don't know, I just bought the old Opera House!" I cried. He blinked.

"You did WHAT?!" He burst. I was beaming so much, I was almost laughing.

"I bought the old Opera House! It's the perfect size for my ballet company!" I told him. He shook his head.

"How much debt are we in?" He asked. I smiled.

"We're not! I'll tell you all about it over dinner!" I called back to him as I walked into the kitchen, and opened a cabinet. I heard him audibly sigh.

"So you bought the Opera Populair?" He asked. I nodded. We were almost done desert now. He smiled.

"You know my family used to own it, a long time ago, back when it was still the Opera House." He told me. I paused.

"No, I didn't know that. They did?" I asked. He nodded.

"Where do you think my name comes from?" He asked, chuckling. I shrugged.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked. He looked up from his plate.

"Wait...you seriously don't know?" He asked. I shook my head.

"No! Do tell!" I told him. He sighed, and put his fork down.

"My great-grandfather was William Phantom. He married Scarlett Phantom, who was the daughter of Christine Daae and Eric Phantom. He decided to take her name. It was a...family tradition." He replied. I nodded.

"I see. And the whole family owned the Opera House?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No, Eric did, but he passed it onto Scarlett, his daughter, and she passed it to her kids, but they all died in a fire at the new opera house. Their kids got out, but never knew about the trust fund, until someone found it some years ago. I was notified of it, because I'm the only living heir of the family, but I couldn't do much about it, because it wasn't in the family anymore. The bank owned it now. I just can't believe you happened to buy it! That's amazing! It found its way back to our family!" He smiled. I was suddenly even more excited that I had bought it because it had family history, which would be great for our kids, when we had some. We had been married for two years, and we weren't in a rush.

"So? What do you think?" I asked. His face was lit up like a five-year-old with a lolly-pop.

"I can't believe we own it! This place is incredible! Felicity this will be awesome!" He breathed, looking around, walking in circles. I smiled to myself, glad to see he was happy.

"So what now?" He asked. I laughed.

"I'm thinking we're going to have to fix this place up first, and then start advertising. What do you think?" I asked. He nodded.

"Sounds like you've known for a while!" He chuckled, and he kissed me on the cheek.

In the evening, we inspected the kitchen and determined it would be better to order pizza. As I looked around, I couldn't help but imagine the performers eating in the same cafeteria as we were standing. I couldn't believe that they had once lived here, and that operas had been performed here, and that now, it had been left standing, almost abandon by society. I smiled. We were going to save this place. I could feel it in my heart.

By the next afternoon we had called several contractors to start repairing everything. The organist was the first to arrive, that same afternoon.

I stood up stairs, in the living quarters. I had just cleaned every room on the right side, and I stood there, admiring what I had accomplished. The layer of the dust on all the furniture had been an inch thick, and cobwebs had been everywhere. It had looked like a virtual haunted house, and I was ready to abandon it, but then I had to started, and had found that underneath all the dirt, everything still looked perfect...as if it were brand new, just in the wrong century.

"Honey?" I heard Will call from downstairs. I peered down the staircase.

"Yes?" I asked. He smiled.

"The organist is here." He whispered. I practically tripped down the stairs.

I found him, standing in the center aisle, staring at it, gaping, his eyes wide.

"Oh! Hello!" I greeted him. He looked back at me.

"That has got to be the biggest organ I have ever seen!" He exclaimed. I laughed, shaking his hand.

"It is. It's the world's largest organ...still." I told him. He shook his head.

"I don't know that I can tune that..." He breathed. I chuckled.

"Well sure you can! Have some faith!" I laughed, and I showed him up the balcony stairs, and to the back door that lead to the organist's seat. He blinked when he saw everything.

"How long did you say you've been here?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Two days." I replied. He shook his head.

"That's impossible." He murmured. I frowned.

"Why?" I asked, suspicious. He sighed.

"That organ was played recently. There's no dust on the keys, and," He said, pressing down on one of the keys. "it's in tune."

Will and I exchanged glances.

"Maybe the bank had it tuned before we bought it." Will suggested. The organist frowned.

"Maybe..." He whispered, and to be sure he played all the keys, and tested everything.

"It's in perfect condition. It's as if someone has played it every day for years." He mumbled, and still scratching his head, he left. I looked at Will.

"That's odd." I said. He nodded.

"It was probably the bank." He said again, and I agreed.

"I'll go finish the kitchen." He told me, and he left me to stand alone. I looked back into the Concert Hall, and that's when I noticed the piano had been moved into the center of the stage. I frowned.

I found myself walking around, checking everything out. I found the stairs to the catwalk, and even though I was afraid of heights, I had never been on one before, so I decided to go up. When I finally reached the top, I looked around. I could see the old stage lights, and spotlights, still pointing at the stage, as if they were waiting for their next show. I walked across and then turned to go down the next, when suddenly walkway shook, and three notes played from the organ, as if someone were hammering the keys. I jumped, my heart skipping a beat, and I looked down, but the lights above the keys were out, and the bench was pushed back in, just as I had left it. I shivered.

When I reached the other end, I stopped, and looked down at the stage. I had a nice view from here, and I almost wished operas were still performed here so I could watch someone sing from up here.

 _"...he's there, the Phantom of the Opera..."_ I heard behind me, as if Will were whispering in my ear. I turned around.

"Hey..." I started, turning around. But I was alone. I held my jaw and ran down the stairs.

"Felicity?" I heard Will call when I reached the hallway and I ran to find him, suddenly nervous.

"How old did you say this place was?" He asked, when I reached the kitchen. I laughed, nervously.

"I think Richard said it was just over two-hundred years old." I replied. He nodded.

"That's what I thought, but this kitchen, it looks to new. I'm cleaning everything, and it's coming up, really shiny, and clean..." He trailed off. I shook my head.

"Who knows what has happened to this place. Didn't they say there was a fire some years ago?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, I think you're right." He replied.

For the next three months we worked hard. We cleaned and remodeled the living quarters, and converted some into offices. We had some seats replaced, and the pillars were fixed. We had the electric replaced, and in some parts, installed where it hadn't been. We had all the spotlights checked, which we were told were in perfect condition. We had some stage sets removed or fixed, and the storage room under the stage cleaned out. We had the chandelier cleaned, and we had all the curtains torn down and replaced with identical, new, ones.

And then we found the blue prints. They were old, and yellowed, and hand-drawn, so we quickly made a copy, so we wouldn't lose them to time.

"Felicity, this place is massive, even for this day in age..." He gasped, pouring over the papers. I frowned.

"What do you mean? How big is it?" I asked. He shook his head.

"The Concert Hall can seat forty-thousand people. I mean, that's kind of monstrous. The new opera house only seats fifty-thousand. That's not much of an upgrade. I'm not sure I believe what he said. Why would they build an opera house with only ten-thousand more seats? What's the point of that? This just doesn't seem right..." He breathed, shaking his head.

"What's this?" I asked, picking up a stage prop that had been left behind. It was a white mask that looked like it only went across half of someone's face, and on the cheek it had a little blush. I furrowed my eyebrows, holding it. For a moment he didn't answer, still invested in the blue prints.

"Wait...where's you find that?" He asked, coming around me, and he took it from me and turned it over, studying it.

"It was lying on this chest." I said, pointing to a wooden chest against the wall. He looked at it.

"Open it." He said. I shrugged, but bent down and opened it. Inside was a suit that looked one-hundred years out-dated with a cloak. Underneath lay a white, night gown, and underneath of that, lay two more masks, one slightly smaller than the other. He blinked.

"I can't believe it! Do you know what all of this is?!" He asked, seemingly excited. I shook my head. He chuckled.

"This, this belonged to them! My ancestors! This," He said, holding up the mask I had found. "Belonged to Erik, along with that suit and cloak. And those," He told me, pointing to the white gown and the smaller mask, "Belonged to Scarlett, his daughter." He finished.

"Why did they wear masks?" I asked, looking up at him. His face turned white.

"I didn't tell you?" I shook my head. He frowned, and sat down on the chest, everything still in his hands.

"Erik was born with a deformed face, and so he wore a mask, but it wasn't his choice. As a child people made him wear it, so eventually he started to go a little crazy, always having to have it on, and he became very anti-social. They said he lived here, someone, hiding away from everyone, but sometimes he would come out at night, when everyone was asleep and he would play the piano and organ, and sing. He always dreamed of being a performer. And actually, the people who lived and worked here were a little afraid of him, because they didn't know much about him, and they could hear him at night, playing away, and sometimes that freaked them out, hearing him, but never seeing him. So he gained a very powerful nickname..." He told me. I sighed. I hadn't known all of that.

"What did they call him? Freak or somethin'?" I asked. He shook his head.

"They called him... _The Phantom of The Opera_."

I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Will..." I gasped, staring at the mask in my hands.

"Remember I told you, I had heard someone whispering behind me?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, so? That was months..." He trailed off, as I held my hand up.

"It was that name. It was... _his_ name..." I breathed, suddenly looking up at him. He gulped.

"You're sure?" He asked. I nodded.

"One-hundred percent." I replied. He held his jaw.

"That's not normal..." He whispered.

A month later the ads were out and auditions started the next week, and pretty soon we had our ballet up and running again. We had previously been in an old castle on the outskirts of Paris, but this was much bigger, much nicer.

"Mrs. Phantom! This is incredible!" Exclaimed Meg, one of the ballet girls who had danced with my company before. I smiled.

"I'm glad you like it. The castle was just getting a little...small." I replied. She was beaming.

"Alright! Arms up! I want you to jump up, and hold your arms like this, girls!" I shouted, and after I had done it, they all followed suit and did the same.

After practice they all had dinner and went about their own lives. They had a few hours to themselves. I sat in the auditorium, alone again, in the front row, going over my book, debating what I wanted the next routine to look like. It was a hard thing to choreograph a ballet without the proper music. The record hadn't come yet, but I already knew how it was supposed to be...at least in my head I did.

 _"...he's there, inside your mind..."_ I heard from the stage. I looked up. Only the piano stood there, silent, and black. The pianist swore it was very old, more than one-hundred years, but when we looked at it, it looked brand-new, still shiny enough to see one's own reflection.

When everyone had gone to sleep for the night, I lay awake, unable to get the voice from my head. And every time I thought about it, I shivered, and the hairs on my neck stood on end.

Suddenly I heard a knock at the door.

"Mrs. Phantom? I'm very sorry to disturb you, but I think you should hear this..." I heard Meg's voice. I sat up in bed, and unlocked the door, she stood in the hall in her nightgown, with the hall lights on. Behind her I could hear, the crisp, clear, loud, sound of the organ playing. My heart flew up into my throat.

"Will! Get up! NOW!" I whispered loudly and he rolled over.

"What's wrong..." He grumbled.

"WILLIAM!" I shouted, and he sat upright and stared at me.

"Listen!" I nearly roared. He was silent for a moment.

"What the devil...?!" He cried, jumping up, and we all ran down the stairs and down the hall, onto the stage.

The room was _silent_ when we entered, the lights _out_ , until Will opened the door...and they _just came on_. All three of us looked at each other.

"Something's not right. How many other girls heard it?" He asked, looking at her. She looked from me to him.

"All of them." In unison, our hearts stopped beating.

"Isn't there a way to remove it?" He burst. The Organist was scratching his head.

"I'm not sure there is. Whoever put it here, made pretty well sure it wasn't going to go anywhere. It's, like, _glued_ to the floor and walls, for lack of a better term..." He frowned, blinking oddly.

"I've never seen _this_ before." He finished, and still shaking his head, he bid us farewell and left. He was the third organist to tell us.

"This is hopeless. This _thing_ has got to go!" He nearly roared into the Concert Hall. All the girls were so shaken, that we had sent them home for the week. I put my hands on his shoulders.

"Sweetheart, don't worry. We'll come up with something." I whispered. He smiled at me, but walked away, fuming.

I walked through the massive auditorium and onto the stage. I made my way down into the storage area, under the stage and continued to sort through things and label boxes.

After I had labeled a box, "Masks." I moved the stack it had been on, to restart it, but then I saw the door behind. It was old, and wooden with metal reinforcements on it. I shivered. Why had it been hidden?

I moved the stack again, and cleaned away the cobwebs around it. Laying my hand on the handle, I heard something click, and the handle suddenly turned, the door swinging open. I frowned. Normally the click came after you turned the handle, not before.

I peered around the door and looked down, into the darkness. I could just make out a spiral staircase. I set my jaw, and grabbing my keys, I started down the stairs. When I reached the bottom I looked around. The area in front of me, looked rather odd. The floor was made of stone and it stepped down. In the lower area and off to one side I could see an old boat, the ore still sitting on the side. On the other side I saw a step up again, and I realized it was a dried up lake bed. I blinked. That was odd.

As I stepped down I suddenly heard a voice in the distance and I froze.

 _"...turn your face away from the garish light of day, turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling, light and listen to the music of the night..."_ I heard a deep voice sing, and I knew it wasn't Will. I held my breath and took a step back and when I felt I was out of ear shot, I ran up the stairs, and closed the door, quietly, behind me, and I locked it.

"William!" I shouted, when I reached the stage.

"What's up?!" I heard him call from down the hallway. I ran across the stage and slammed the door behind me and raced down the hallway.

"You should hear this!" I burst, running into the cafeteria. He looked up from underneath one of the tables he was fixing.

"I don't hear anything." He replied. I shook my head.

"That's because it's under us!" I said. He scooted out and sat up.

"Felicity, what are you talking about?" He asked, puzzled. My heart was beating frantically.

"Someone is downstairs, singing, and that's another thing! There's another room below the storage room!" I was shaking. He stood up.

"You're sure?" He asked. I nodded. He sighed, and grabbing his flashlight, he started down the hallway, with me on his heels.

"Show me." He said when we got into the storage room. I pointed at the door, and when he reached for the handle, I forgot I had locked it, until he laid his hand down, and it just unlocked, without even being turned.

A month had gone by since we had found the door. Rehearsals had returned to normal but the organ still sat there, we just locked all the doors at night. Will had closed, locked, and bolted the door in the basement. He didn't want anyone coming up, and steeling anything. As I practiced with the girls, he fixed things around the opera house, and if one of the girls complained of hearing something, he always checked it out, but so far we had been fine.

"Remember you said there had been a lot of accidents and mishaps?" I asked him, one evening at dinner. He nodded.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, could it be they were talking about the different things we've encountered. Like, I'm starting to think this place is haunted." I replied. He thought.

"I guess it could be, but I'm not sure you would call what we've experienced, mishaps or accidents." He murmured. I sighed. He had a point.

"What happened?" I asked. He shrugged.

"A few fires. More than half the company witnessed the chandelier fall down after they had been threatened by an unknown person." He replied. My eyes widened slightly.

"Wow! The chandelier fell down?" I asked. He nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, actually, they blamed it on him, on Erik. The newspapers said it was The Phantom of the Opera's fault, but no one ever really knew the truth." He finished. I nodded and finished eating dinner, still wondering how someone could make a chandelier fall...

William

We had just gone to bed for the night, all the lights finally out, and Felicity had just fallen asleep next to me. She had been going on about the place being haunted, but I had never really believed in ghosts, so I wasn't sure what to think, although I had seen some odd things...

Suddenly, as I lay there, unable to really fall asleep, I thought I heard the organ being played. I turned over, but it only got louder, and I didn't want Felicity to wake up and panic again, so I silently stood up, and closing the door, gently, behind me, I tip-toed down the stairs.

As I neared the door to the stage, I heard it, growing louder and louder with every step it seemed. Holding my jaw, I took my key out, and unlocked the door. When it opened, the lights were out, the organ silent...and then it continued to play and then the stage lights just came out, the door closing behind me. I jumped, but looked up at the organ.

I found myself, staring at a dark figure, their back to me, pounding away on the keys. The song they played sounded beautiful, but I was still angry they had trespassed, and that they had woken me up.

When the song had ended, I was about to shout up to them when...

"William." A deep voice, much deeper than my own, and seemingly all around me, said my name. I shivered.

"Yes?" I asked. The figure by the organ turned their head.

"William Phantom?" He asked. I blinked.

"Yes?" I asked, yet again, almost annoyed.

"It is very nice to meet you." He started, pausing behind every word. " My name is Erik. Erik _Phantom_." He told me. My eyes grew wide.

"That's not possible. Erik Phantom died a long time ago, and is buried not far from here." I called back. His chuckled filled the room and echoed, giving me chills.

"Are you sure?" He asked, still pausing behind every word. I gulped.

"I am." I replied, but suddenly the figure by the organ was gone, and then I noticed him, standing only meters away, by the base of the stairs, holding the railing with his right hand.

"I wouldn't be." He said, his voice seemed to grow deeper, and he turned to face me. I stepped back, suddenly gasping, and covering my mouth.

"What the devil...?!" I breathed. He was tall, much taller than I was, with greased-back, black hair and a suit that looked one-hundred years out-dated, but what stuck out the most wasn't any of that. It was the white, half-face, mask that he wore on the right side of his face. I realized I had been holding my breath.

"How is that possible?" I whispered. He laughed...oddly.

"Don't you want to know? Don't you want to know, how all of this, is possible?" He said, and with that, he flung his arms out, and the organ and piano burst into a strong, dark, melody, the chandelier came on, along with all the other lights in the Concert Hall, and with a flash all the light bulbs blew out, sending a shower of sparks down, which all the other lights then did as well, and only the stage lights were left on. My heart was beating out of my chest by now, my eyes so wide, they were beginning to hurt, and I felt the blood from my already-pale, face drain.

"Don't you want to know what your last name, really means?" He roared. I was so terrified that I couldn't even shiver anymore, I just shook.

"But I already know." I replied back, when everything fell quiet again. He smiled.

"Are you sure?" He asked me...again. I sighed. This was hopeless.

"Look, I don't care who you are, who you could be, or even who you think you are, but I'm telling you to leave now, go home, and play some other organ. But this sick, sadistic, game you are playing, it's over!" I roared, and I turned on my heels to leave, but the door in front of me slammed shut, and then I heard all the other slam shut too, and the organ played, a deep, dark note, and then fell silent again. I slowly turned back to look at him, but he was gone, and I was alone, on the stage, with no way out.

Suddenly I realized just how true the stories were...

"Fine! I want to know!" I shouted into the empty audience. A evil, chuckle resonated all around me, so deeply, that I could feel it, vibrating my chest. I waited, until he came up behind me.

"You can do a lot more than you think, with that last name." He whispered, nearly scaring me to death.

I turned to look behind me, but he stood over in the center of the stage.

"Ok? What's so special about the name? Since you keep bringing it up?" I asked. I figured I was talking to some, crazy person, who happened to know their history.

"Put your hand on that piano." He pointed to the black piano between us. I eyed him suspiciously, but put my hand on it, and suddenly it began to play the melody in my head. I flinched away, and it stopped again.

"It has... _power_. It has power over the _Music of The Night_." He whispered, and he vanished.

For a long time after that I swore it was a dream. That all these...things happening, had caused me to have this weird dream. I never told Felicity about it, and none of the girls ever heard it.

Until one evening, when they were already getting ready for bed. I was going around, and locking all the doors, as usual, when I walked up, onto the stage, and stopped to admire all the new lights we had just finished installing along the balconies. As my eyes went along, they fell upon the massive organ sitting above the main entrance...and as I stood there, staring at it, it started to play the same melody that was in my head, and for a moment I let it go, before I blinked, and it was if nothing had happened. There wasn't even a note in the air. And yet, when I looked at it again, it did it again, but this time all the lights on the stage grew dark, and the dim light which I could see, was blue, like midnight.

And I suddenly felt the mask on my face...

I realized then, what my last name meant. I wasn't just William Phantom, no I was much more. My name had power.

My name was the Phantom of the Opera.

The End.


End file.
